There doesn't need to be any conspiracy. The NHL is, after, an organization whose prime goal is to make money.The Flyers, Rangers and Red Wings of the world will always get a bit more of advantage over the Devils and Predators of the world.It's less conspiratorial than it is institutionalized.

I never said conspiracy, I said Bettman has favorites. If Phithy gets Weber and it violates the spirit of the CBA in some way and there is no penalty. It makes sense that Devils fans feel slighted. Make no mistake, Weber is really good. If the Flyers had not made a mistake in goal, we would have bigger problems.

I'm lumping any considerations other than fair play under the "conspiratorial" label. Maybe that's not textbook definition, but the point is the same. If any decisions were to be made on the basis of "we just give certain teams more breaks while giving other teams a hard time" or "we're concerned that certain fan bases may express their outrage in dangerous ways" or "it's just better for business to punish this one and let that one go", it would be an affront to the very idea of sport. That's what I was referring to. And the only time that I've thought that any of that might be happening was with the Kovy penalty. It just seems out of step with the league's other actions.

I do not undertand how these signing bonuses do not go against the 'spirit of the cba'.

Because the Flyers are paying essentially $1 of real money for every $1 of cap money.

The Devils were guilty of circumvention because Kovy's original contract was essentially $1 of real money for every $0.8ish dollars of cap money. Kovy would have likely played maybe 13 years of his contract meaning his cap hit should have been 7.6m per year, when on paper it would have been 6m per year.

The signing bonuses still count against the cap, it still counts in the adjusted average, from that perspective the first year is essentially 14m dollars. The only difference is Shea get's the money at the start of the season and not spread out during the course of it like most players.

Because the Flyers are paying essentially $1 of real money for every $1 of cap money.

The Devils were guilty of circumvention because Kovy's original contract was essentially $1 of real money for every $0.8ish dollars of cap money. Kovy would have likely played maybe 13 years of his contract meaning his cap hit should have been 7.6m per year, when on paper it would have been 6m per year.

That argument doesn't fly when Weber's getting paid $107 million over 11 years, then $3 million total over the last three years. I can hardly picture him playing those last three years all at $1 million per. Over the next ten years it's $104 million total, a $10.4 average. And the cap hit's $7.8 because of the last four years.

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"The Devils have high standards, that's the difference. We have a standard to live up to every year, and a couple of teams in our area don't have the standards we do." - Pat Burns

The New Jersey Devils win Stanley Cups everywhere:-NHL record for most road wins in the playoffs - 10-1 in '95 and 10-2 in '00-NHL record for most home wins in the playoffs - 12-1 in '03

That argument doesn't fly when Weber's getting paid $107 million over 11 years, then $3 million total over the last three years. I can hardly picture him playing those last three years all at $1 million per. Over the next ten years it's $104 million total, a $10.4 average. And the cap hit's $7.8 because of the last four years.

Shea Weber will probably be playing hockey when he is 38,39 and maybe 40. Kovalchuk is pretty unlikely to be playing at 42,43,44,45.

The problem is not getting paid less in your final years, that's been well established as kosher by the league, the problem is adding low paying years when it's not reasonable to expect the player to still be playing.

As I predicted yesterday the contract would be more than 100 mill. But am I the only one here who thought it was still going to be a bigger contract than it is? I don't think it's so bad at all for him.

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of No OneProud to be King of the Kovalnuts (Est. June 2010 by MantaRay)

"I am not an AH like you, he board is discussed with you/, good ;luck, AH" -BostonNala370

That argument doesn't fly when Weber's getting paid $107 million over 11 years, then $3 million total over the last three years. I can hardly picture him playing those last three years all at $1 million per. Over the next ten years it's $104 million total, a $10.4 average. And the cap hit's $7.8 because of the last four years.

Unfortunately, the NHL and the aribitors found it completely unrealistic that a player would play until age 44. There have been plenty of players who have played until 40, which was their argument.

But I agree, the realistic expectation is that Suter, Parise and Weber won't play after age 37 or 38 for what would amount to chump change compared to the 98% of their contract dollars that have been already paid.

As I predicted yesterday the contract would be more than 100 mill. But am I the only one here who thought it was still going to be a bigger contract than it is? I don't think it's so bad at all for him.

Shea's contract is about as high as you can go while keeping a reasonable cap hit. 14m is the most you can make in any given season (based on this years cap), and he got it for his first 4 years. With this contract Shea will probably be the highest paid player in the NHL for the next several years as no one else makes more then 12 and no one else will be able to sign for more for a while.

As I predicted yesterday the contract would be more than 100 mill. But am I the only one here who thought it was still going to be a bigger contract than it is? I don't think it's so bad at all for him.

If Weber were a UFA he'd probably get a bigger contract. If the CBA were expiring next year Weber probably would have just taken a one year deal and gone to UFA to get that pay day, but I'm sure he's scared of max length contracts being introduced.

A lot of teams would not balk at matching it, but Nashville's relative frugality and the signing bonus issue might make them decide to let him go.

If so, I think the Flyers come out huge winners. Too bad the rest of their D is atrocious, and they made that stupid Luke Schenn trade.

Shea's contract is about as high as you can go while keeping a reasonable cap hit. 14m is the most you can make in any given season (based on this years cap), and he got it for his first 4 years. With this contract Shea will probably be the highest paid player in the NHL for the next several years as no one else makes more then 12 and no one else will be able to sign for more for a while.

I figured years 7-10 would give him more than 6 mill. At least I didn't think it would go from 12 to 6 when it does. I was thinking he would get 115-120 million when all was said and done.

Edited by ben00rs, 19 July 2012 - 03:38 PM.

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of No OneProud to be King of the Kovalnuts (Est. June 2010 by MantaRay)

"I am not an AH like you, he board is discussed with you/, good ;luck, AH" -BostonNala370